Chicago Riot.
Oppression and revolt, combination and intrigue, strife and bloodshed, never will cease until the supreme selfishness, which in the absence of divine grace controls all men, gives place to true philanthropy, and a brotherhood that is not outlined by class or sectional interests. This happy time is coming. When Jesus comes, he will take to himself his power and reign in righteousness. Then will the hills be brought low, the valleys exalted, the crooked be made straight, and the rough places smooth.
Those who are weary of strife, those who through misfortune or oppression have been made to feel their need of relief will find rest to their souls in looking for the coming of the Lord. It is vain to match evil with evil or to try to cure wrong with wrong. The gospel of Christ is the only remedy for these ills. And all that we can really do to counteract the annoyances of this life must be done through the gospel of peace. In this time of perplexity, distress, and fear, let every Christian hold up Christ. Let his patient suffering be exemplified in whatever circumstances may come. Just a little beyond, there is relief.
Strikes, boycotts, lock-outs, trusts, unions, or any other human device or demonstration only augments the trouble, as the experience of the past few years shows. For there never was so much of these things as now, and never was capital so insecure, business so uncertain, and labor in such distress as at present. The employment of arbitrary force provokes greater efforts on the opposite side, and thus the breach is widened and the strife becomes more bitter. We do not argue the merits or demerits of the case. That there is deep wrong involved, the fruits plainly show. It is our task only to point out the one remedy available alike to [pg 062] either and all. That remedy is the gospel of Christ, which is soon to close in a glorious triumph for those who have patiently and faithfully wrought his will.
“The Powers Of Heaven Shall Be Shaken.”
We do not apprehend that this circumstance will occur as a sign of Christ's coming, but rather that it will constitute one of the events of his coming, the same as the features mentioned in the next verse. An evident distinction may be drawn between the signs of the advent and the circumstances of it. With the falling of the stars, the former cease; and with the next event the latter commence. This event, the shaking of the powers of heaven, we must regard as being future. It holds the same place in the events of this chapter, that the departing of the heavens as a scroll does in the events of the sixth seal of Revelation 6. Both follow the falling stars. The Scriptures plainly teach that, prior to the resurrection of the just by the voice of the Son of God, the voice of God the Father will shake the heavens and the earth, when will be fulfilled the shaking of the powers of the heaven. This is not the voice of the Son of God as he descends to raise the dead. It comes from the throne of God in the temple of heaven.
“The Lord also shall roar out of Zion, and utter his voice from Jerusalem, and the heavens and the earth shall shake; but the Lord will be the hope of his people, and the strength of the children of Israel.” Joel 3:16.
“Therefore will I shake the heavens, and the earth shall remove out of her place, in the wrath of the Lord of hosts, and in the day of his fierce anger.” Isa. 13:13.
Paul quotes from the words of the Lord by Haggai and comments as follows:—